RugNotes: Aaron found his heart's desire on the floor

RugNotes: Aaron� found his heart�s desire on the floor: "Monday, October 04, 2004
Aaron’ found his heart’s desire on the floor


Aaron’ found his heart’s desire on the floor

Oriental rugs are owner’s third career – and his favorite.
By Linda Lipp
llipp@news-sentinel.com
Do what you’ll love and you’ll love what you do.
That’s what teacher turned stockbroker turned banker turned rug dealer Bob Anderson knows. The owner of Aaron’s Oriental Rug Gallery, 1217 Broadway, turned his love of collecting Oriental rugs into a successful business that has been largely immune from the economic woes that have plagued many northeastern Indiana businesses.

“What economic downturn?” he asks innocently from his perch upon a three-foot high stack of room-sized rugs. “The only slow time we had was right after Sept. 11.”

Anderson bought his first Oriental rug in 1973, after moving back to Fort Wayne from San Francisco and entering his third career, as a banker. Although he continued to work at Anthony Wayne Bank until the late 1980s, “my real passion in the evenings and on weekends was collecting Oriental rugs.” He finally opened a store, stocking it with his personal collection of about 200 rugs, “and I’ve never regretted it for a moment,” he said.

There is no Aaron at Aaron’s Oriental Rug Gallery. “There never was,” Anderson revealed. “Anderson’s Oriental Rugs just wasn’t very romantic, and Bob’s Oriental Rugs is even worse.”

Anderson liked the ring of the name Aaron, however, “and being first in the phone book, that never hurts,” he said.

Although it looks small from the street, the shop is large, stretching back a half-block deep. The extravagantly colored rugs are everywhere, piled four feet high on the floors, with a narrow aisle through the middle, and also hang on the walls. The lower level is reserved for new rugs, the upper level contains antique and collectible rugs.

Anderson isn’t sure exactly how many rugs he has in stock. “I know it’s in the thousands, I don’t think I want to know how many thousands,” he admitted.

All of the rugs are hand-picked by Anderson at major international shows in New York and Atlanta. The biggest producers of the handmade rugs are India, China, Pakistan and Nepal. Prices range from $200 to $2,500 for a 4-foot-by-6-foot rug. Room-sized rugs fall in the $2,000 to $20,000 range; and the unusually large, collectible “palace-sized” carpets can sell for as much as $75,000.

The quality and variety of rugs has improved since he’s been in business, Anderson said. Along with the traditional reds and blues, Oriental rugs now come in shades of green and gold and aubergine, among others. Contemporary geometric and asymmetrical designs are plentiful, along with the more traditional patterns. Long-wearing, stain resistant wool is still the standard, however, with a few rugs incorporating some silk threads as well.

Through the years, Anderson’s customers have come to rely on his taste as well as his expertise. A customer he’s worked with before might ask him to bring six or eight rugs over to test how they would look in a particular room. Others bring paint, wallpaper or furniture covering samples to the store, and then take home a rug on a trial basis to see how it will look.

Anderson trusts his customers as much as they trust him. “We’ve never even asked for a credit card if someone wants to take something home,” he said."